Lost Sphear: A spiritual predecessor to I am Setsuna?

Micha: Is this a direct sequel to I am Setsuna or is it a completely new game just with the spirit of I am Setsuna?

Lost Sphear ist the second game from the Project Setsuna-series. So, it takes on the concepts that we have seen in I am Setsuna as well but it is not related to I am Setsuna whatsoever. It has its own story, its own world, its a complete original new game. But it does take on some of the concepts that we have seen in I am Setsuna as well. There are some things in the game for the people who have played I am Setsuna, where they might say „Oh, okay, I have seen that before“. But even people who haven't played I am Setsuna are able to enjoy this world.

Max: I am Setsuna took place in a world covered in snow. Which landscapes await us in Lost Shear?

When I am Setsuna was released we received a lot of feedback from players, that they really liked the locations, all the snow and the white, but we did receive a lot of feedback from players as well saying „we'd like to see a lot more locations in the game“. So in Lost Sphear we added a lot more locations, there is a lot more variety of locations into this. And also there is this thing called „Lost Phenomenon“ in this game, where that parts of the area become white, so you can see that kind as well.

Micha: I am Setsuna was basically a very sad story. It had adult-themes that were told in a story that wasn't like many other RPGs. There were serious characters and topics and so on. Will Lost Sphear continue this tradition of a very adult story?

When we started developing Lost Sphear we decided that we would like to keep that concept of a sad feeling that you were able to see in I am Setsuna. But we also wanted to improve the story, where the player will actually not only feel a sad emotion, but more emotions that make your heart feel warm. So we thought that we were able to do this in Lost Sphear.

Max: As you mentioned, the main theme in I am Setsuna was sadness. Is there a main theme in Lost Sphear too, or is it this mix of emotions?

The main concept of Lost Sphear evolves around the keyword of „Memory“. In the story of Lost Sphear each and everything is made from memories. In a way you could kind of say that these memories are memories from the planet or from the stars, but when these memories are lost, it becomes white and doesn't exist anymore. In the game we call this the „Lost Phenomenon“.

Micha: What was very striking about the first game was the classic presentation, especially the music. This was a key-element for transporting the emotion, the melancholic feelings and so on. So this time the topic changes a little bit. How will the music change and is it the same composer?

It is the same composer as in I am Setsuna. We asked Miyoshi-san to make the music for Lost Sphear. But compared to I am Setsuna all the music was made with the piano. This time, because we added a lot of locations too, we decided to add a lot more of music to it. So, we still kept the concept that the piano is the main instrument, but it is like “piano plus alpha”, depending on the location where you are. So it could be piano plus violin or piano plus another instrument. When the players, who played I am Setsuna, listen to the music in the game we hope that they say „we've heard this music kind of before somewhere“. And also for players who haven't played I am Setsuna we hope that this music will bring out more emotions as well.

Max: So let's head over to some „Battle-Talk“. In Lost Sphear you are able to change the position of your characters even within the fight. What was the reason you implemented this?

It's really thanks to the players that actually played I am Setsuna. The feedback we received was that they really liked the battle system, but there were players who said: „If I was able to move my character just slightly during the battle I might be able to inflict a lot more damage onto the monsters and the enemies“. So, in Lost Sphear we decided, that we would like to implement that feedback from the players. We did feel like it might be a little bit difficult, but a lot of players said that they wanted the characters to move around, so we said „Okay, let's try and put this in“. And when we put it in, it made it a little bit easier to move around in battles and was a lot more enjoyable. That's why we feel this is a really great battle-system that the players will really like.

Micha: One of the most difficult aspects of creating an RPG is creating a database with all the stats and how strong characters are, how strong monsters are and all the mathematics behind it. Will you use the stats from the first game or did you make something completely new since this is a new world?

It is about balancing out the stats of the characters and all the monsters and we have taken that from I am Setsuna. But we did receive feedback from the players saying that maybe the battles were a little bit easy. So, we've decided that we try to make the battles in Lost Sphear just a little bit more challenging. It's not like we received feedback that the battles were too easy and thus we are going to make the monsters a lot stronger. We tried to balance it out. The monsters are not that strong to the point where the players say „I can't play this“, but it is not that light to the point where it would be too easy. It is definitely a little bit harder than I am Setsuna but players will still be able to feel that it is a really good challenge and that they like to play this.

Max: I have to return to the battlefield once more [laughs]. Will there be any other new elements in the battle-system that we haven't seen yet in the demo?

We have a new feature which is actually original for Lost Sphear, so we would like to show it to you [and thus they showed us].

So you use your characters normally but when you press a button they wear this kind of suits [which looked like some mecha-suits]. This suits make the characters really really strong but if you look at the energy gage here, the more you wear the suit the more the gage goes down and if it reaches zero, you will not be able to wear the suits.

This, again, is an element how to balance out the difficulty of the battles. While you are wearing the suits your characters are really strong and inflict a lot of damage to the enemies but we made sure that the players can't use them all the time. It really depends on when and how you want to use it.

Each character has its own special move when wearing a suit like this and we are going to show it to you now [and thus they showed us again]. So this is the main characters special move. It is a combination-attack where him and another party member combine together to attack monsters.

So this suits are the one major difference, the new feature that we added in. There is another feature which kind of ties in with the memory we have mentioned earlier but I can't share any information about that yet. But new information will eventually come out in the future.

Micha: You obviously did enhance the battle system which is really cool, I like this. Did you also widen up the game outside of the battles, like the overworld or visiting towns? Did you add more adventure-elements that are wrapped around the combat?

In I am Setsuna there were these „Shiny Points“ in there and this is in Lost Sphear as well, but it has got different elements to it this time. I wouldn't say that there are systems that have completely changed since there are similarities but we made sure that we improved and enhanced it. The gimmicks in the dungeons got a lot more variety now than in I am Setsuna

Max: Since I'm from a Nintendo-medium I have to ask this question: How was working with Nintendo and the Nintendo Switch?

I really like the Nintendo Switch. I feel like the Nintendo Switch-Platform itself really matches and fits with the games that Tokyo RPG Factory creates. I know a lot of players who want to play the RPGs on the TV but with the Nintendo Switch you can play on the TV but also carry it outside and play it when you are traveling. So in cases of that, we think that the Nintendo Switch is a really good platform that goes really well with the games we create.